Baby it's cold outside
by Naidoo
Summary: Sorta song-fic. A storm is ongoing and Carlos tries to convince Steph to stay


_A/N: I was listening to the duet version of "Baby it's cold outside" and it made me think of the lyrics being said between Steph and Carlos maybe. After three days the idea was still nagging me and i gave in to writting it. Not really a song fic but not really not one either. Hope you enjoy!_

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I let out a sigh – hoping that next year somehow would be better than this year. At least in regards of Bombshell extravaganza. Not only had I managed to pull my head out of the sling one too many times this year for my liking and destroyed also more than a handful (make that two handfuls actually) of my POS cars, I also had managed to finally get my apartment destroyed beyond recognition. Morelli and I hadn't managed to move any closer in regards of commitment and if I was being honest most of the times I actually had counted the minutes when he'd have to be back on the job again. _That_ realization alone made me call it quits indefinitely.

While my apartment was being repaired so that I actually could live in it again I stayed with my parents. Things were going …ok-ish. My mother was still alive and my thought of going slowly insane were only appearing every second hour or so.

I had spent my day in and out of RangeMan, doing all sorts of researches and other things that landed on my desk throughout the day. I also tried capturing one of my FTAs in between. I worked so much that I missed lunch and was only reminded of how late it was when Ranger stood in front of my desk to which I had returned a moment ago.

"Have you actually eaten today?" he asked and as if wanting to answer, my stomach growled loudly, telling him what he needed to know.

"Babe," he said, sounding almost scolding.

"Not my fault. I just got carried away and forgot about the time…" I explained, while his hand already reached for me hands and he pulled me out of my chair a moment later. I hadn't even managed to get out of my coat and scarf yet and was apparently already leaving…

"I'll ask Ella to send something up to Seven and we have a late lunch…" Problem solved!

I saw him press the button for his penthouse apartment and a moment later the elevator moved upwards.

The food was divine – as always. I actually think there wasn't something Ella could turn into yummy delights that had you moaning. Well, me mostly. Ranger wasn't the kind of guy that moaned – at least in regards of food.

When the last plate and knife had found their way into his dishwasher I got ready to pack up again and put on my coat and scarf.

"Where do you think you are going?" Ranger asked and which I turned around to face him.

"Home," I answered partly confused. Getting into my coat and wrapping my scarf around my neck a few times I was ready to go. Or so I thought.

"Have you looked outside? The snow is so bad you can hardly see the hand in front of your eyes…" he determined, leaning against the doorframe of the counter of his kitchen.

I turned slightly and looked through one of the windows outside. Sure, a snow storm was ongoing, but this was Jersey, in winter. Nothing I wasn't used to since thirty-years plus.

"I've seen worse," I answered unimpressed – which was a lie. It was looking really bad out there.

"Babe," he simply said, and I knew he was seeing right through my lie. He had been living in Jersey for about the same amount of time and made it through as many snowy winter storms as I had – give or take. He knew it hadn't got that bad for a few years now.

"My mother is expecting me for dinner. She'll probably be going insane when I don't show up. I figure when I leave now I should be able to make it on time." If I drove carefully I could be there in an hour or so. Though, after my late lunch with Ranger I wasn't even hungry. "And when I don't show up, she will have my dad worry and drive him nuts and then both will just do crazy things."

"Maybe you can at least wait until your hands stop being icicles," he said, moving closer to me and putting his hands around mine. Up until now I hadn't even realized my hands had been cold. Odd, seeing I had been up here for at least half an hour and they should have warmed up by now.

Before I could even say a thing he pulled me behind him towards the couch and just now did I realize the fireplace he had in his apartment was roaring.

"Ok… maybe… a half hour can't hurt," I said, thinking there war worse places to stay a bit longer. "But then I really need to get going. Otherwise I'll never hear the end of this from my mother. Since I moved back in with them I feel like I'm fourteen again – and I don't mean this in a positive way."

"How about I'll get you something to warm you up a bit quicker, Babe?"

A moment later he returned and handed me something hot in a cup. Alone the scent could get you drunk.

"What is that?" I asked after a few sips. It was hot, delicious and I never wanted to let go of it.

"Hot whiskey with a bit of honey. Nothing warms you quicker."

I slumped further into the couch and figured it could really be worse. I was slowly feeling my fingers again and this was really, really nice. The fire cracking, the soft and comfortable couch that was slowly swallowing me whole and at some point music had started to play as well. Looking outside and seeing the snow storm pick up I couldn't help but think I didn't want to leave this cozy and warm apartment. But eventually I had to. So I better get a start on it now before it would get even harder to leave.

I put my cup on the small table next to me and got up. "I feel my fingers again and I think I really should get going now."

"You realize that's a really bad blizzard out there, right?" I heard Ranger asking behind me, while I was looking for my coat that Ranger somehow had managed to take away from me sooner.

"I'll drive carefully…" I said.

"You just had hot whiskey. You are not driving anywhere," came his reply and I needed to think about that for a moment. He was right. Especially since I started feeling the effects of my drink now that he had mentioned it.

"I'll… get a cab," I decided and saw him shack his head.

"In this weather? Good luck."

Once more he had a point. At this point it was more likely I'd win the lottery twice in a row than scoring a cab.

"I'll walk then," I figured and it wasn't a bad idea. RangeMan wasn't _that_ far away from my parent's house. Sure, it wasn't exactly close either, but I figured I could be there in a reasonable time.

"I don't think so," he said in regards of my suggestion. "I don't want to open the paper tomorrow and read that the Bombshell Bounty Hunter died of pneumonia while outside at a time with weather no one else would want to face."

"I don't think I'll die," I argued weakly. It wasn't as if I really, really badly wanted to be at my parents. But another week of nagging and being compared to people's daughters who I didn't even know was something I really didn't need. And since I sort of depended on my parents right now to provide me with shelter until my place was back up and running…the choices were very little.

"Babe, it's really cold out there …" Ranger said, while unwrapping my scarf from around my neck. "The snow is several feet high by now and I don't think anything or anyone is out there right now. So why should you?"

He threw the scarf behind me and moved in closer. The scent of his Bulgari alone had enough effect on my resistance.

"Stay the night, Babe" came his suggestion a moment later, his lips mere inches away from my ear. The goosebumps all over my body that followed weren't due to freezing or the likes.

Between his scent, his lips that now nibbled at my neck and the fact that I really had no interest in facing that blizzard outside the decision all of a sudden seemed so easy and ridiculous that I really had considered to leave. Why? So I could sit through another mind-numbing dinner at my parent's place which my mother would use to tell me all about the children of her friends that were so perfect and why I wasn't more like them with a job that was safe and didn't attract lunatics while I munched on a meatloaf that was way too overdone anyway? So in other words, I wasn't going to miss much.

"I guess it is really cold outside," I mumbled absentmindedly, while his lips kept working their magic. "And I really shouldn't be out there," I continued, seeing the snow storm pick up once more. "My mother is used to my misbehaving crazy ways anyway…" I concluded which got me an almost smile from Ranger.

"For what it's worth I like all your crazy misbehaving ways, Babe."

He guided us back to what I figured would be the couch which had been abandoned a few moments ago. He pulled me with him down on it and wrapped himself around me as if he was worried I might start another sudden argument that I needed to go. From which I was the furthest away to be honest. Settled against him, his arms tightly around me, I was at the happiest place possible. A place that was even worth my mother's nagging tomorrow.

And for now tomorrow was still far away anyway.


End file.
